Minutes to Memories

Today has been a really good day for lots of reasons...

* Early this morning I watched a video on my friend, Ric's, blog about his life in the Coast Guard while stationed in Hawaii. You all ought to watch it & give Ric a shout HERE. I can say that the Coast Guard was heroic after Katrina, and this video shows the life of the brave people (like my friend, Ric) on "routine" duty in Hawaii.

* We had our first real meeting of our new "Neighborhood Watch" program at church, and it got off to a GREAT start! There were six of us there, with another 3-4 folks still to come, and I simply couldn't be more pleased with how it began. No, this is not a McGruff the Crime Dog kind of Neighborhood Watch. Instead, it is simply a way to get together each week and be on the lookout for new folks in our church assemblies and keep a watchful eye on those who are missing. We've tried various things along these lines in the past, all without long-term success, but this morning left me with a great feeling that this just might be the time something works.

* As you can see in the picture above, I continued my Ocean Springs photography project by meeting the superintendent of the public school system, Mr. Robert Hirsch. Mr. Hirsch was my daughter's principal from 6th grade all the way through the 12th grade (he moved from the middle school to the high school when her class did!). It was an amazing thing to be able to tell him that the Community Service class at the high school - something he helped create - led to her major in elementary education. He insisted that she come see him when she was back in town.

* After meeting with Mr. Hirsch, I went back to WOSM Radio (The Gospel Giant) to be on the "Looking Around" show with Margaret Cooper, and I had a blast! I met a sweet widow from Mobile who comes every month to read her poetry (it turned out that she attends the University Church of Christ there!). I met a wonderful guitar-playing man who is here directing hurricane relief efforts for the Nazarene Church (this man was born blind, and by the grace of God has overcome that and many more life challenges). And I met a gospel version of the Partridge Family, the Riddells, who travel in their bus around the country singing & preaching (check out their website HERE). To top it all off, I got a chocolate cookie homemade by the sweet poet from Mobile!

What a great day! Hope yours was just as good, and if possible, even better!